Sunni mosques bombed

U.S.-Iraqi assault on insurgents continues

U.S.-Iraqi assault on insurgents continues

BAGHDAD - Inside a fortified conference room and through the prism of U.S. and Iraqi military officials, a security plan to pacify the country was working Wednesday. Outside, extremists blew up mosques, lobbed mortars into Baghdad's heavily protected Green Zone and generated a steady drumbeat of violence. Just hours before a top U.S. military spokesman said that troop buildups, added checkpoints and other measures launched in February were showing signs of success, suspected Shiite militiamen bombed two Sunni mosques south of Baghdad. An explosion damaged a third Sunni mosque south of the capital hours later. No deaths were reported in the morning bombings of the Usama Bin Zaid and Abdallah Al-Jobori mosques in Iskandariyah and in the afternoon one at the Sfoog mosque in Jbala. But coming the day after a truck bombing outside a Shiite mosque in the capital killed at least 78 people, the attacks stoked fears that retaliatory bombings of Muslim religious sites would escalate. Twenty-nine unidentified bodies were found dumped on Baghdad's streets. Assault plan: Navy Rear Adm. Mark Fox told reporters inside Baghdad's fortified Green Zone that the U.S.-led security plan, which included a massive ground-air assault on al-Qaida in Iraq forces in Diyala province on Tuesday, is stemming Shiite-Sunni reprisal killings. U.S. forces are also conducting a second operation south of Baghdad “to prevent insurgents from entering the southern Baghdad belts,” Fox said. The Diyala assault, which the military dubbed Operation Arrowhead Ripper, involves more than 10,000 troops - on foot, in armored Stryker vehicles, tanks and aircraft. They moved into the provincial capital of Baqouba early Tuesday to dismantle the radical Islamic order that al-Qaida in Iraq imposed. A U.S. military statement said American forces had killed at least 41 insurgents, discovered five weapons caches and destroyed 25 roadside bombs and five houses that had been booby-trapped. U.S. officials confirmed that one American had been killed. He was identified as Spc. Darryl W. Linder, 23, of Hickory, N.C., assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas. It was a low death toll given the reported size of the operation. A similar sized assault on Fallujah in 2004 resulted in scores of Americans dead and wounded.